The Veterinary Medicine Directorate’s (VMD) have become aware of a number of unauthorised veterinary medicines/treatments being advertised and sold for a variety of honey bee issues including:- Varroa, Nosema disease (nosemosis) and Tracheal mites (acarapisosis).

We advise members to always use authorised products and also to submit a complaint if they see unauthorised veterinary medicine or products being advertised: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/report-an-animal-product-being-marketed-as-a-medicine  

There is a list of all the current UK authorised products for bees on the VMD’s product database. Click search at the bottom of the page, select ‘Bees’ in ‘Species’ and then click ‘Run Search’.

More detailed guidance on both how to report suspected illegal activity and how the VMD will deal with these reports can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/report-illegal-animal-medicines

June 2021